Massrat Alam Bhat is at serious risk of being ill-treated, tortured or
killed following his arrest by the Special Operations Group [SOG], a police
division known to routinely torture detainees.
The SOG, a division of the police created to combat armed opposition in
the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, arrested Massrat Alam Bhat, the
General Secretary of the political party, the Muslim League, on 17 January.
At the time, he was participating in a demonstration in the state capital,
Srinagar, to demand the return of the bodies of militants killed during
a shootout at Srinagar airport. Several other political activists arrested
at the same time were released on 18 January. However, despite rumours
that he is being held at a Joint Interrogation Centre [JIC] in Srinagar,
the whereabouts of Mussrat Alam Bhat remain unknown.

In the last week alone, two men, Mushtaq Ahmed Bhat, a member of the Muslim
League, and Bilal Ahmad Mir, have died while in the custody of the SOG.
At least one of these was killed at a JIC in Srinagar. Several other detainees
have allegedly been subjected to torture over the past few days. - 23
January 2001